Global roaming requires data plan?

[pdisme]

Hi all, I plan to visit a few different countries this summer and just upgraded to the Droid 2 Global to accommodate that plan since I need my phone # to go with me and didn't want to deal with forwarding and throwaway phones. Sales guy at the store says no problem, Droid 2 Global does CDMA here and GSM abroad, just need to enable global roaming.

So I call today to do that and they tell me smart phones require an international data plan before they can activate the SIM on smart phones, and the least expensive plan is $30/month, starting immediately. Well that's great, I plan to be out of the country for one week at a time with gaps of three to four weeks in between, so that makes it sound like I get to waste $30/month all summer just so I can travel from time to time?

Anyone know if this person was accurate or is there a way to global roam without data?

 

[RHChan84]

It will be $30 a month but pro-rated for the time you are away. If you are gone for a full month then it will be $30 but if your only gone for a week then it would be pro-rated to around $8ish. Just call VZW and activate before your trip and switch back to the normal data plan when you come back and do it again if you go away again.

 

[Super_Mario]

It does not need a data plan for global. You can add the Global Pay As You Go option, which is free and you will pay .02/KB or you can turn off data on your phone.

 

[pdisme]

It does not need a data plan for global. You can add the Global Pay As You Go option, which is free and you will pay .02/KB or you can turn off data on your phone.

That's what I was hoping for, I don't care about data when I'm gone, just being able to receive emergency calls. Is 'pay as you go' the actual terminology I should use when I call back to get them to set it up correctly?

 

[Super_Mario]

That's what I was hoping for, I don't care about data when I'm gone, just being able to receive emergency calls. Is 'pay as you go' the actual terminology I should use when I call back to get them to set it up correctly?

Yes. I say call Global Services, because then you won't have to explain anything, they'll just do it. 1-800-711-8300.

And turn off data on your phone by going to Manage Connections>Mobile Network Options> Data Services Off or Data While Roaming Off. You may have already knew this, I'm just saying.

 

[pdisme]

That's perfect, thanks.